


The Magical Adventures of Emma Pan and Regina Darling

by AWitchWithTheFairies



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Peter Pan Fusion, F/F, Fairies, Female Peter Pan, Fluff, Magic, Pan!Emma, Peter Pan AU, Swan-Mills Family, Wendy!Regina, don't worry Hook is only here as a villain and won't be getting any kind of romantic sub-plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-22 00:15:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7410853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AWitchWithTheFairies/pseuds/AWitchWithTheFairies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Peter Pan AU. Emma and Regina are all grown up, but little do they know they have met before. Regina doesn't recognise Emma as the girl from her dream, and Emma remembers nothing of her childhood other than the knowledge that she was an orphan. As they begin to fall in love once again, it is up to Henry to help them believe in magic again, and remember who they once were.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fan fic (I've only written original fiction before) so any comments, praise or constructive, are really appreciated. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

##  _Prologue_

 

Regina woke with a start. She’d heard a loud bang on the far side of the room, and she knew it wouldn’t be her mother or father as Mr and Mrs Darling were always ever so quiet when they came home from an evening of dance and song. Nana, the trusty dog who slept by her feet to guard her from intruders, had heard it too and was barking into the shadows.

Sitting up slowly, Regina turned on the lamp on her bedside table in hopes of catching a glimpse of what had made such a noise. Perhaps a bird had flown in through the window, driven off course by the wind. But the outline illuminated by the yellow glow of the lamp wasn’t that of a bird at all, it was far too big.

As Regina’s eyes adjusted to the light, she saw a blonde haired girl crying in the corner of her bedroom.

“Girl, why are you crying?” she asked, peering over the end of her bed.

The blonde girl was startled, and flew up with her legs still crossed, banging her head on the high ceiling.

“Oh please don’t be afraid, I just wanted to see if you were alright, you looked terribly upset.”

Why Regina was not alarmed by the girl’s flying, or the fact that she was in her bedroom in the first place, was not immediately obvious. Perhaps she thought she was still dreaming, her mind conjuring up a playmate for her, for she was ever so lonely cooped up in that house with no brothers or sisters, or friends to play with.

The girl flew down to the bottom of Regina’s bed and stood with her legs apart and fists on her hips, chin raised in a proud pose. The girl’s hair was long and ratted, with what looked like leaves and twigs entangled in her mane. Her strapless dress looked like it had been made out of leaves sewn together. In fact, Regina was certain that that was exactly what it was.

“I wasn’t crying!” exclaimed the girl. “I was just looking for my shadow, it keeps flying away. I had my eye on it before you made me jump, now I don’t know where it is!”

Regina smiled, as just above the girl’s head was a dark shape of her exact silhouette, except it didn’t mimic the girl’s pose as any good shadow should, and was instead flying in mid-air blowing raspberries at Regina. The girl noticed Regina’s shift in gaze, and in one swift sweep reached her right arm up, and grabbed her shadow by the foot.

Regina grinned at the stranger’s victory, but it appeared her joy was premature as the shadow refused to attach itself back to the girl.

Regina had an idea.

“Would you like me to sew it back onto you? I’m sure it wouldn’t be able to escape then!”

The girl looked up briefly from her wrestle with the shadow to give a quick nod, and Regina jumped out of bed and ran across the room for her sewing kit. It was a small white tin with daisies painted on the lid, and a gold clasp that held it closed. Upon returning to the light side of the room, she carefully pulled the thread through the eye of the needle, told the girl to sit still on the floor, and set to work.

The girl’s eyes filled with tears as the needle was pulled through her toes, but she sniffed them back and hoped that the dark haired girl wouldn’t see them. Regina did of course, but she was far too courteous to point it out, and instead engaged her in conversation to distract her.

“My name is Regina, Regina Darling, what’s yours?”

“Emma, Emma Pan, of Neverland,”

“Neverland?”

“Yes Neverland, haven’t you heard of it? It’s just out that way” she pointed in the direction of the window “second star to the right and straight on till morning!” She beamed at Regina, not even realising that the pain had stopped, and the shadow was attached to her once more. “You should come with me!”

Regina looked solemn, eyes to the floor.

“I can’t” she said, “Mother is sending me to boarding school tomorrow, a school for young ladies. She says it is time that I finally grow up.”

“Grow up?” Emma was outraged. “What would you want to do that for? Grown-ups smell funny. I have an idea! Why don’t you come with me? In Neverland you never ever have to grow up, and there’s mermaids and fairies and pirates, we’ll have so much fun, oh please please say you will!”

Regina couldn’t help but flash a great wide smile. _Why not?_ She thought. _This is surely only a dream. I’ll wake up in my bed in the morning, and no one will know where I’ve been._

“Yes! Oh yes please! Oh Emma I’m so happy I could, well I could just give you a kiss!”

Emma’s eyes widened and she presented the palm of her hand. Regina chuckled. It was obvious that Emma had no idea what a kiss was, so Regina reached for a deep red apple broach from her jewellery box, and presented it to Emma. Emma smiled, and pinned the broach to her dress.

“And now I should like to give you … a _broach_ ”

Regina leaned forward, but at that moment a flash of light blinded her, and she felt a sharp jab on the nose.

“Ow! What was that?” But no sooner had the bright light gone from in front of her eyes, something had begun to pull painfully on her hair.

“Tink! Tink stop that! Stop that right now!” Emma grabbed at Regina’s hair and held the bright sparkling thing tightly in her hand.

“What… what’s that?”

“Tink, if I let you go will you promise not to hurt my new friend again?” Apparently there was some form of reply, though Regina only heard what sounded like sleigh bells, and Emma let the creature free from her grip. Once she did, Regina was able to see that she was looking at a fairy.

Emma noticed Regina’s look of glee and smiled. “This is Tinkerbell, my trusty ally. She … she gets a bit jealous sometimes.

Regina frowned “Wait, I thought fairies were supposed to be nice!”

“Oh don’t let that outburst fool you, she’s alright really. It’s just that she’s so small that she can only feel one emotion at any one time. Besides, it’s Tink who’s going to help us get you to Neverland.”

Tinkerbell’s tiny face didn’t seem too happy at this news, but Emma didn’t seem to be aware as she grabbed hold of her again and shook her dainty body over Regina’s head, letting fairy dust fall onto her head.

“Now, stand up…” They both stood up together, holding hands and facing each other “… and think happy thoughts.”

Regina didn’t need to close her eyes to think of anything because the girl in front of her made her happier in that moment than she’d ever felt before. They both flew up into the air, causing Nana to start barking again as she sensed something was amiss.

Nana kept on barking into the night as Emma and Regina flew out the window with a fairy in tow, straight on towards Neverland.

 


	2. CHAPTER ONE

Regina Darling, the Mayor of Storybrooke, had long ago stopped believing in fairies. Many children stop believing in fairies as they grow up and that is why there are so few of them, as every time a person says they don’t believe in fairies, a fairy somewhere drops down dead.

In truth, growing up is as much a tragic fate for the adult as the fairy, as when they do all the magic that surrounded them as a child is lost to them forever, and that in itself is a kind of death. Like death, it leaves an emptiness inside the soul of a person. It is a hole that the adult will spend their lives trying to fill, indulging in carnal pleasures, praying to gods that do not listen, or worshipping the green paper god that changes daily from hand to hand, never truly belonging to anyone. Little do these poor, foolish grown-ups know, the hole they so eagerly wish to fill can only be healed with magic.

Now Regina’s son Henry, at ten years old, had not yet reached the age where all is lost, and he believed in magical creatures and magical lands with all his heart. The stories his mother had told him about enchanted forests, and magical lands beyond the stars, were as real to Henry as the state of Maine itself.

All of this, Regina reasoned, was perfectly healthy for a boy of Henry’s age. It wasn’t until he started to believe that his mother was a magical adventurer like the characters from one of his books that Regina began to worry.

 

***

 

Our story really begins with the arrival of a stranger in their small town. Storybrooke wasn’t the kind of town that had a lot of visitors. It wasn’t on the way to anywhere, nor did it possess any attractions that would encourage someone to drive that far out. And yet here Emma was, stepping out of a yellow bug in a red leather jacket, looking more out of place than a peacock in a dovecote.

Emma’s arrival had made the locals suspicious. What if she were an escaped convict, hiding out where the police were sure never to look for her? It was up to the mayor to personally investigate.

Regina found the stranger in the only diner in town, hunched over a newspaper with a bear claw in hand, and a cup of hot cocoa on the table in front of her. She didn’t seem to notice the crumbs that had fallen onto the page, and Regina’s upper lip curled as she prepared to interrupt with a clearing of the throat.

Emma looked up and widened her eyes in surprise.

“Hi, I’m Regina Darling, Mayor of Storybrooke.”

“Emma, Emma Pan. I’m sorry, is there a problem? I only arrived into town yesterday.”

“No, nothing like that. I’m sorry to disturb you but we don’t get a lot of visitors, and I wanted to enquire as to what your business is here.”

“Well that’s hospitality; does the mayor usually personally introduce new arrivals?”

“As I said, we don’t see a lot of visitors.”

Regina was smiling widely, but this was a different smile to the one we saw her wear as a child. This smile was strained and held venom behind the teeth, and the eyes were empty glass orbs.

“I see.” Emma’s eyes narrowed. “If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to keep my business to myself thanks.”

The tension was tangible, a wave up to their throats that threatened to stop their breaths.

Regina’s eyes inspected Emma. She had become accustomed to people following her every command and so her curiosity was spiked by the defiant woman before her. They were physical opposites in many ways; blonde and brunette, slender and curvaceous, jeans and leather jacket, and a steel grey power suit. But almost camouflaged against the red of Emma’s jacket was a red apple broach pinned to her lapel. It looked familiar to Regina somehow, as though perhaps she had had one just like it as a little girl.

“I would usually not mind at all, but the locals have already picked up on something about you that suggests you _clearly_ don’t belong here, and well I’m probably saving you a lot of trouble if I just send you on your way.”

“Well thank you for your concern, but I think I’ll be staying here a while actually. Good day, Madame Mayor.”

“Good day, Ms. Pan”

And with that Regina left the diner, determined to find out what this Emma Pan was up to, using whatever means she could to learn the truth.


End file.
